LawrenceCConnolly.com

Nearly sixty years ago, a Japanese composer dragged a leather glove across the strings of a contrabass and created one of the most distinctive sounds in 20th century cinema — Godzilla’s Roar.

I was six when I first heard it, sitting on the floor of my Levittown living room, watching a staticy cathode-ray television. It was sometimes hard to see the picture on that set, but the audio generally came through OK, making for an experience that was more like listening to radio than watching TV. No matter. Godzilla, King of the Monsters was one of those movies that sounded better than it looked.

[Hit the play button below to hear that sound . . . and read more at 21st Century Scop.]

Horror isn’t a genre. It’s an ingredient. A seasoning. Such things have been pointed out before, most notably by Douglas Winter in Revelations (1997), but a quick look at this year’s Bram Stoker Award™ Preliminary Ballot shows that it bears repeating.

This year the short-fiction jury has selected three strong works from mainstream publications, Ramona Ausubel’s “Atria” (New Yorker, April 4), George Saunders’s “Home” (New Yorker, June 13) and Stephen King’s “Herman Wouk Is Still Alive” (The Atlantic, May).

The past year also saw Zoetrope All-Story Magazine and Granta putting out special Horror Issues . . . .

[Read more at 21st Century Scop.]

Any questions? 

Lots of presenters conclude with that phrase. I’m different. I like to start with it.

The strategy may not be as harebrained as it sounds. I’ll explain.

[Read More at 21st Century Scop.]

What people are saying about Voices: Tales of Horror

“. . . eleven previously published short stories and a pair of originals, all in [Connolly’s] trademark style of thoughtful horror.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Connolly is a master of the short story. He writes with an economy that hums with the quiet power of a finely-tuned engine. His stories are artfully constructed and memorable for their smart originality.”
—Tom Monteleone
Bram-Stoker-Award-Winning editor of the Borderlands anthology series

“Lawrence C. Connolly doesn’t just get under your skin, he burrows. His style is deceptively unshowy . . . all the better to jolt you.”
—Stephen Volk
award-winning screenwriter of The Awakening and Ghostwatch

“Lawrence C. Connolly is a master of the dark fantastic, and Voices is a treasure trove of sinister wonders, not to be missed!”
—Tim Waggoner, author of Like Death

From the Publisher:
Combining the genre-bending stories of Lawrence C. Connolly with the surreal art of World-Fantasy-Award-nominee Jason Zerrillo, Voices is an exploration of the art of storytelling, where whispers become screams . . . and images echo in the mind. This is more than a story collection: it’s a sounding of the depths of horror.

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever fine books are sold.